Indoor dog games. By a dog.

Stuck indoors with a bored owner? Don’t worry, here’s a few ways for you both to have fun when the weather’s not so great outside.

Hide and seek for dogs

Your owner loves this one because they get to do the same thing as you.

They’ll tell you to wait while they run off giggling to themselves and after a bit you’ll hear them shout ‘Ready!’ from a long way off. Now, if your owner has personal hygiene ‘challenges’ you’ll find this dog hide and seek game super simple, but even if not they’ll still leave a strong enough scent trail for you to follow to the door of the bathroom cupboard in which they are invariably hiding.

They’ll say something like ‘How did you find me so fast? What a clever dog!’ When it’s your turn to hide make sure that, when hiding, your tail isn’t sticking out. Then try not to fall asleep before you hear your owner shouting ‘I give up!’.

Dog Memory Game

This is one of my favourite dog treat games. Your owner will say this is a game that teaches you to count, but actually it’s a game that teaches them to remember.

Watch closely while your owner puts three Bakers® kibbles into their trouser pocket. Then they’ll take one out and give it to you, which obviously you’ll eat. Then they’ll give you another and you’ll eat that too. But then they’ll walk away and forget that they still have one more kibble in their pocket.

So you’re barking like crazy and nuzzling at their pocket and they’re like, ‘What is it? There’s no more’. But you know there’s one more and after you’ve barked for a bit they’ll finally give it you and say ‘Well done, you can count to three, good boy!’ Trouble is next time you play this dog memory game they’ll forget about that third kibble again which proves how bad their memories really are.

Guess which cup?

This is a really easy game for dogs but owners seem to find it hard.

What happens in this dog treat game is that they take three paper cups, turn them upside down and then hide a Bakers® kibble underneath one. So far, so simple. Then your owner will mix up the positions of the cups and say, ‘Ok boy, which one’s it under?’ Now, if they want to know where the kibble is, why did they mix the cups up? And they’ll stare at you like they’re totally confused and you think, ‘Ok, I guess I have to show you’.

So you sniff each cup and obviously the one that smells of kibble has the kibble underneath. And you prod that cup with your nose and they go, ‘Oh wow, what a clever boy!’ But you know, I’m a dog and that’s what we do but it totally freaks them every time.

What’s your toy’s name?

Want to polish up the mental side of things? Then give this dog game a go.

Let your owner take one of the toys you really love, then they’ll call your toy a name, hide it in a box with some of your other toys and ask you to find it. When we did it he used my chewy turtle and called it Greeny because it was green. Then he said, ’Ok boy, find Greeny, find Greeny in the box.’ Now I’ve never called my turtle ‘Greeny’, I call him ‘Shelly’ partly because he has a shell and also because I can’t see colours, but I thought I’d better play along so I went and had a rummage in the box until I picked out the turtle.

Well my owner was amazed and rubbed me and said ‘Clever boy! You found Greeny, well done!’ One day I’ll tell him it’s Shelly but right then I didn’t want to spoil the moment. It seems to be one of his favourite dog games, after all.

Dog agility course

This dog obstacle course is brilliant fun and lets you and your owner enjoy physical play together.

They’ll put stuff like towels and toys on the carpet in the shape of some sort of course and you have to watch while your owner shows you how to get round it. Except it’ll take them ages but it’s funny to watch them crawling around on the floor. When it’s your turn show them how to do the course properly then wait until they have another go. After they’ve done it twice they’ll spend the rest of the time watching you whizz about while giving you encouragement from the sofa.

This is a great form of indoor dog exercise, and it’s pretty fun, too.

Dog treasure hunt

This is one of the best dog treat games because it combines exercise and brain work.

Allow your owner to hide several Bakers® kibbles in various rooms of the house, and when they say ‘Go!’ you rush around sniffing and nuzzling everywhere. Obviously you can smell where all the kibbles are but don’t hurry to find them because this is the ideal opportunity to clamber all over the chairs and sofas without getting told off. Eventually, after you’ve enjoyed a good work-out, sniff out the kibbles and scoff them while your owner calls you ‘Sherlock’.

Another dog memory game: which hand is it in?

Another great way to help your owner improve their memory is when they take a kibble, hide their hands behind their back then bring them out and ask you to pick which hand the kibble’s in.

They’ll look at you saying, ‘Which hand is it in? Which hand, which hand?’ Obviously it’s in the hand that smells of kibble but you don’t let on. So, to pad things out a bit, move your head from side to side like you’re really thinking hard and maybe scowl a bit too. Eventually tap the correct hand with your nose and quietly accept the kibble while they go loopy about how clever you are. Some indoor games for dogs are super easy, and this is one of them.

Tidy up’ dog toy game

We dogs always know where our stuff is so we never need to tidy up.

Unfortunately our owners seem to think their houses look nicer when there aren’t toys all over the floor. So they’ve invented this cool indoor dog game where they give you a Bakers® treat every time you tidy up your toys into their box.

However this is a total con trick to get us to pick our toys by ourselves without treats or anything. So when playing this game it’s important not to ever get it quite right. Pretend it’s difficult and you’ll always get a treat when you finish.

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